Book Review for Our Extraordinary Summer by Lori Wilde

 

Hobby Island #2

Our Extraordinary Summer by Lori Wilde

Published:   April 21, 2026 by Avon

Tropes:   ️An exclusive southern island setting,  Sister story, ️‍Female athletes (golf!),  Second chance at love,  Sweet Magnolias and Virgin River vibes

Taken from Goodreads:  New York Times bestselling author Lori Wilde returns to the enchanting Hobby Island with a poignant story about two estranged sisters who come together after the passing of their mother, featuring family, love, and one unforgettable summer—perfect for fans of Jill Shalvis and Susan Mallery.

Two estranged sisters. One final wish. A summer that could mend everything…or tear open old wounds.

Calista and Athena Dempsey were once inseparable until their father’s ambition drove a wedge between them. When a very public betrayal shattered their bond, Calista walked away from her family, determined to rebuild her life on her own terms. Athena stayed behind, shouldering the weight of expectations and guilt in silence.

Now, with their mother gone, the sisters are summoned to Hobby Island, a secluded retreat where their mother spent her final days, with one final come together and make peace. But the past isn’t so easily buried.

Especially when Calista comes face-to-face with Reid Thornton, the man who once held her heart and then upended her life. He says he wants to make things right. But can she believe him? And can she forgive Athena when the scars between them still run deep?

As secrets surface and loyalties are tested, Calista and Athena must make a pivotal choice. Will they honor their mother’s last wish and find their way back to each other, or let their shared past destroy what little remains of their bond?

My Thoughts:  This is my first visit to Hobby Island and I cannot wait to go back.   Every character was quirky and unique, whether they lived on the island or were just visiting.  Those that lived on the island had a little more quirkiness and they were the ones that I look forward to meeting again.  

Calista and her sister Athena come to the island to say the final goodbyes to their mother.   Their mother’s last request was for them to mend their relationship.   It will not be easy but if it can happen Hobby Island is the place it will happen.  I enjoyed that mending fences and relationships was not an easy thing.  It took time, misunderstandings and patience.  They took steps forward and backwards.   While mending their relationship, they managed to learn a lot about themselves, each other, and their family. 

Our Extraordinary Summer is a fun book.  The romance is sexy and sweet.   The characters are relatable.  The storyline moves at an even pace, sometimes it was a little slow, but it is worth reading every word.  

Thank you Avon for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. 

Add to your MUST-READ list on Goodreads

Purchase your own copy on Amazon.

 

Meet the Author(taken from her website):  Lori Wilde is a New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of more than 110 works of romantic fiction. Her books have sold over eleven million copies worldwide and been translated into 26 languages. Her Wedding Veil Wishes series inspired six record-breaking Hallmark movies, and The First Love Cookie Club was adapted as the Hallmark film A Kismet Christmas.

 

 

Spotlight for Aphrodite in Pieces by Lauren J.A. Bear

 

Aphrodite in Pieces by Lauren J.A. Bear

Published:   April 21, 2026 by Ace

Genre:  Greek Mythology, Fantasy

Taken from Goodreads:  Experience the myth and magic of antiquity's most alluring—and provocative—goddess as never witnessed before, in this gorgeously rendered, unflinching, and deeply vulnerable retelling from the author of Mother of Rome and Medusa's Sisters.

Two hundred years before the common era, Aphrodite surprises an itinerant sculptor with a shocking Hear my story, see me for who I truly am, and carve it into stone. Never before has the goddess posed for her likeness, and as the artist works, she shares pieces of herself.

Her greatest triumphs and most grievous mistakes. The truth behind the tales of her beneficence and vengeance. And the one epic romance that slips through her perfect fingers, time and time again.

Part memoir, part fantasy, and all heart, Aphrodite in Pieces begs the eternal, essential what do love and beauty truly mean? And can they last?

Add to your MUST-READ list on Goodreads

Purchase your own copy on Amazon

 

Meet the Author (taken from her website):  Lauren J.A. Bear is a reader and writer, an educator, a troublemaker, and a fierce mama bear.

Lauren was born in Boston and raised in Long Beach. After studying English at UCLA and education at Loyola Marymount University, worked for a decade as a middle-school teacher focused on literacy and humanities. Lauren lives in Seattle with her husband and three young children where she enjoys crossword puzzles and being on or near the water without getting wet. She is the author or Medusa’s Sisters, Mother of Rome, and Aphrodite in Pieces

Lauren is represented by Jane Dystel of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.

Release Blitz for A Vow Worth Breaking by Amy Cole

 

A Vow Worth Breaking by Amy Cole is now live!

Hensley Richard works tirelessly to balance corporate interests with humanity at Richard Companies, the global enterprise she and her brother inherited. When Hensley’s life is threatened, she flees toward France and hires the elite security team of Titan Group. 

Little does she know, she will get much more than the protection she expected.

Theo Rossi had always been a charmer, in the before times. After the destruction he’d caused his team, Theo made a vow, one that ruled his life. Rescuing an unconscious woman from the English Channel wouldn’t change that, he wouldn’t let it. However, he is immediately drawn to Hensley's strength and resilience. Unfortunately, she is now his newest client, and he has sworn to protect her, with his life if necessary. As Titan Group and Theo investigate the threats against Hensley and the danger around them escalates, their bond deepens, but is it enough to save them both? 

My job is you. Only you.

A Vow Worth Breaking is an adult romantic suspense for fans of brave women, protective heroes, and the adventures that bring them together. A Vow Worth Breaking is part of the Titan Group Romantic Suspense series, a collection of interconnected standalones that each feature an HEA.

  Download today!

Amazon US: https://bit.ly/4snUPKV   

Apple Books: https://bit.ly/409vJ6w  

Nook: https://bit.ly/4aXHMbR  

Kobo: https://bit.ly/3OLunwg   

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/409XA6t

 

Meet Amy Cole

Hi friends! I'm Amy. I'm an 80's baby who picked up my first romance book putzing around an antique store when I was 11 and I've been reading them ever since. Behind every romance writer lurks a devout reader...and that's me.

I married my high school sweetheart after dating for 10 years. Clearly, he's slow on decision making...yet it's working out so there's that redeeming factor. We have two sons, teenagers now, who know everything, just ask them. We also have two black labs, and are still heartbroken over losing our cat. We live back in the Midwest, and in the middle of our hometowns so that we can raise our kids around our families. We live where we swore we'd never move back to and regret nothing about breaking that vow.

I'm a small-town girl who was fortunate enough to travel domestically and internationally for years for work (and for fun). I love to be outside, and give me a campfire at the lake, a ski run down the face of a mountain or a beach sunset any day. I love them all. Equally, please ask me where to eat or what to do in cities across the U.S. and France and I will immediately produce a 10-page itinerary. I love food and I love people watching. There really is a story behind everyone, and the journalism kid in me wants to learn them all. Don't worry, I'll make up some details to add an element of romance or mystery to every story.

I love my family, my friends, dogs, books, love stories, traveling, Murder She Wrote re-runs, sports, history, trivia and food. I'm kind of a smart ass, which I like to say is better than a dumb ass. You want me on your trivia team and if you read my books, I'll happily be your friend forever, just like a lab if you give them one treat as a puppy.

 

Connect with Amy

Website | amycolebooks.com    

Goodreads | https://bit.ly/4u7JhNp    

Amazon | https://bit.ly/3En1cL0    

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61562893197128       

Instagram |  https://www.instagram.com/AmyColeBooks     

Pinterest |  https://pin.it/6cLlJfqr4   

Book Review for Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

 

Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

Published:  April 21, 2026 by St. Martin's Press

Genre:  Mystery Thriller

Taken from Goodreads:  There are two kinds of people no one ever expects to be murderers: little girls and old ladies.

Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is eighty-one years old. She's lived on her idyllic street for sixty years—longer than anyone else. Aside from being a curmudgeon who minds everyone else's business, few would suspect that Elsie has a past she's worked exceedingly hard at concealing—because when it comes to murder, no one ever suspects little girls or old ladies. And Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, once a little girl and now an old lady, has a strange history of people in her life coming to a foul end.

 

My Thoughts:  Mad Mabel is a fun read.  I really liked the characters and the uniqueness of their lives.  Mabel, now known as Elsie, has grown old being the outcast.  She did not make friends, her parents travelled more than they were home, and she was taken care of by her aunt.   Now her secrets are coming out. 

I enjoyed hearing Elsies life story directly from her.   Her life was never easy and it made her the way she is.   Now, at eighty-one she has made friends, she lives beside neighbors that see her and protect her,  and she has a purpose in life.   The relationship between Elsie and Persephone is the most entertaining to me.

I did not find this book to much of a thriller but it a mystery, a family drama, and a great story.  

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Add to your MUST-READ list on Goodreads

Purchase your own copy on Amazon

 

Meet theAuthor (taken from her website): Sally Hepworth is the New York Times bestselling author of ten novels, most recently Mad Mabel. Sally’s novels have been called “darkly charming” and praised by authors Emily Giffin and Liane Moriarty as “totally absorbing” and “fiction at its finest.”

Sally's novels have sold millions of copies worldwide and been translated into over 30 languages.

Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia with her family.

 

 

 

Sally Hepworth on Instagram: @sallyhepworth

Sally Hepworth on Facebook: @sallyhepworthauthor

St. Martin’s Press on Instagram/Facebook/X/TikTok: @stmartinspress

#MadMabel #SallyHepworth #StMartinsPress

 

Available Now!! Rock Me by Jessica Buss

 

Title: Rock Me

Author: Jessica Buss

Genre/Tropes: Small Town - Sexy Geologist/Injured Retired MLB Pitcher - Protector - Opposites Attract - Virgin - True Crime Podcaster - Secret Online Pinup Model - Crochet Queen

Release Date: April 20, 2026

Sharing a heated glance across a crowded bar, they both feel the spark of something monumental. And then life throws a curveball, separating them before they even have a chance to properly meet.

Bryce is a former major league pitcher who retired after a career-ending injury. Still young, he embraces his love of geology, and secures a job in Homer, Alaska. He falls in love with the state, and becomes infatuated with a woman he saw only briefly, who looks strikingly similar to an internet pin-up model he follows.

Craving independence and privacy after high school graduation, Lucinda moved to a small town outside Homer to start living her best life as a true crime podcaster. A virginal introvert with a big heart, she spends her free time crocheting blankets for babies in the NICU. But she’s not as innocent as she appears. She has a secret… She’s a sultry internet pin-up model.

Since exchanging glances that one fateful night, they’ve been pining for each other. Then fate steps in and brings them together in the most unexpected place… on a fishing charter in the middle of Kachemak Bay.

An unlikely pair with intense, unquestioning chemistry, they’re forced to work together, and confront the assumptions they hold about one another.

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The Cardinal Code : Absolution by Avery Sterling with a GIVEAWAY

 

The Cardinal Code: Absolution
Avery Sterling
(The Cardinal Code, #2)
Publication date: April 17th 2026
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal, Romance

The Cardinal Code: Absolution continues the dark, seductive saga of the Cardinales—an elite society of vampires whose influence shapes governments, history, and the hidden world beneath human civilization.

Paislee Sullivan never wanted power. She only wanted Michael. But loving a man born into a secret dynasty of blood and control means standing in the shadow of everything he represents.

When Michael Chamberlain is summoned to London, he’s pulled into a political struggle rooted in ancient bloodlines and forbidden truths. As old laws are challenged and long-buried secrets begin to surface, Paislee finds herself no longer at the edge of his world—but at its center.

The deeper she is drawn into Cardinales society, the more dangerous her presence becomes. To some, she is leverage. To others, a threat. To Michael, she is the only thing that has ever mattered.

Bound by love and hunted by forces determined to preserve the Order’s control, they must confront a truth the Dominium has spent centuries suppressing.

Because some bloodlines were never meant to merge.

And loving each other may cost them everything.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

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EXCERPT:

Paislee leaned her head on Michael’s shoulder.

“You didn’t look surprised by that envelope.”

“Because I wasn’t.”

“What is it?”

“An invitation,” he said, lacing his fingers through hers and brushing her knuckles with his lips.

Her head lifted. “An invitation for what?”

“To Etxe Bakarra.”

“What’s that?”

“A celebration they hold every year—but barely understand. It was hand-delivered. Required my signature. Which means I must attend or face consequences.”

She studied the envelope, running her fingers over its embossed seal. “It’s beautiful. What is Etxe Bakarra?”

“A celebration of unity. Of peace.”

“Are you required to attend every year?”

“No.”

“Then why now?”

“Because the harvest moon aligns with the autumn equinox. It’s incredibly rare.”

She blinked. “Harvest moon, autumn equinox . . . the Order sounds mystical.”

He chuckled. “It’s their favorite bedtime story.”

As the car hummed down the avenue, she turned the envelope over in her hands.

“You didn’t even open it.”

“I know what it says.”

“I’ll open it, then.”

Her eyes skimmed the elegant script inside. Then she paused. “Michael . . . why is my name on it?”

He went still.

“Right under yours. It says the invitation extends to ‘Michael Chamberlain and companion, Paislee Sullivan.’”

He reached over and took the invitation from her hands. His easy charm shuttered, replaced by something darker. Calculating.

Michael stared out the window for a long moment.

“They want to see you,” he said quietly.

Paislee frowned. “Why?”

“I don’t know.”

A pause hung between them.

She rested her head against his shoulder, listening to the steady thud of his heart beneath the fine weave of his jacket. He didn’t speak again, but he didn’t have to. She could feel it in the way he held her hand tighter than before—the silent promise tucked into his touch.

Whatever this celebration meant, whatever game the Order was playing, she was now a part of it.

Author Bio:

Avery Sterling's love for the romance genre began in her teen years when she picked up her first novel. She was captivated by the sweeping scale of emotions brought about by the words. The experience catapulted her towards learning the art of wielding a breathtaking adventure, with a love that felt authentic. Wanting to inspire people with her own thoughts and words, she finished her first novel at sixteen. It was a step towards understanding the essence of what she wished to create.

Most of her youth was spent traveling, searching out the romance and beauty in her everchanging world. From the waves that crashed against the rocky shores of Downeast, Maine, to the warm breezes of the Caribbean, she discovered that love was universal, apparent in its grandest and simplest of forms. Her goal is to write novels an audience can relate to, one that conveys the truth and nature of love… with all that steamy romance.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / X

GIVEAWAY!

The Cardinal Code: Absolution Blitz

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